


Not-Date

by krabcaq



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Alternate Universe, First Dates, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Shows up 15mins late with a cup of starbucks, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-18
Updated: 2013-08-18
Packaged: 2017-12-23 22:55:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/932058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krabcaq/pseuds/krabcaq
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I told you it was a date, now I bet you feel foolish in your stained up mechanics get-up," Kadar laughed, shaking his head at his brother, "hey Altair looking good, hope you don’t mind me, I haven’t done laundry in weeks so I just wore my work uniform on our first date."</p><p>"Shu- it’s not a date," Malik shot back at his brother glaring at him through the rear-view mirror, "and don’t say anything about it when he gets in the car."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not-Date

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a quick fic I wrote up for Tumblr user maliks-butt wonderful coffee shop AU
> 
> Malik is a car mechanic in this fic, but I'm pretty positive he's not actually one in her AU. Just added that bit in, but everything else is solely based off of her amazing AU.
> 
> I hope you enjoy uwu

Malik sat quietly in the car waiting for Kadar to get out of class, he had his phone laying in his lap flicking his finger across his the screen looking at his facebook news feed just to pass the time. He didn’t care much about what people were talking about anyway, except if he seen someone that might have liked Altair’s status, since they weren’t friends and he wasn’t going to send the man a friend request; not yet anyway. 

He was about ready to just leave his brother when the sound of the car door opening thrust him from his thoughts, he looked over at his brother a scowl on his face, “it’s about time, I do have plans you know.”

Kadar smiled apologetically closing the door he buckled himself in and reached over grabbing Malik’s phone, “yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m sorry,” he looked back at Malik raising a brow, “wait, you’re not wearing that are you?” 

Malik looked down at his clothes, he was still wearing his uniform from work and it was littered with grease and oil stains. He frowned dusting off his shirt as if it was going to help at all, he looked sideways at Kadar his bottom lip set into a pout, “it’s not like it’s a date, just two people going out to watch a movie, buddies.”

"Sure," Kadar laughed leaning back in his seat, looking through Malik’s phone not much interested in hearing his brother dance around the fact that yes, this was a date he was going on.

"He’ll probably be wearing his work clothes as well," Malik stared at his brother for a moment before speaking up again, "get in the back you idiot, I’m not going to make him sit the fucking backseat."

"Wait," Kadar shifted looking at Malik with a confused look on his face, "you’re picking him right now?"

"Yes."

"Are you taking me to the movies too then?" Kadar smiled brightly.

"No," Malik shot him down quickly staring blankly at his brother, "I’m not, but I am picking him up before I take you home since it’s kind of out of the way, so get in the back."

Kadar snorted rolling his eyes, he unbuckled his seat belt mumbling something about Malik not knowing how to go on dates. Instead of getting out of the car and walking to the back, he quickly crawled into the back seat before Malik could say anything, he knew his brother hated when he did that. 

"Kadar!" Malik groaned dropping his head back against the headrest of his seat, "why can’t you just get out!?"

"Shut up, go get your boyfriend," Kadar buckled up again, pulling Malik’s phone out of the front pocket of his hoodie, "you’re going to be late and you don’t want to stand him up on your first date do you?"

"This isn’t a date," Malik said putting the car into drive with his hand, grabbing the steering wheel directly afterwards he eased on the gas pedal. He knew he wasn’t suppose to be driving in the first place, so he had to be extra cautious when behind the wheel. 

It didn’t take long to get to Altair’s apartment complex, it just felt long with Kadar talking his ear off. He was just glad that they were finally there and he knew that when Altair got in the car, Kadar wouldn’t talk as much; the boy was shy around people he didn’t know. He looked back at his brother, watching the boy flick through his phone he rolled his eyes and leaned over grabbing it away from him getting a disapproving groan. 

Malik quickly messaged Altair, and tossed the phone back at Kadar, “try not to waste all the battery life on my phone, please.” 

He sighed leaning back in his seat waiting patiently for Altair to come downstairs, he tapped his fingers against the bottom of the steering wheel as he tried to calm himself down. He wasn’t sure why he was so nervous he had talked to Altair so many times in the Starbucks this shouldn’t have been any different except maybe, he was going to have to say more than just what he wanted to drink. Maybe this was going to be a bit tougher than he thought, he had no idea who Altair was outside of that shitty coffee joint; he didn’t even like Starbucks he just couldn’t stop going in to see Altair. 

He didn’t even know why, the asshole got his order wrong every-fucking-time.

Malik shook his head looking down at the dirt under his nails, he frowned, “maybe I should have went home and showered I probably smell like the shop.”

"You do and it’s gross," Kadar teased from the back.

Malik looked down at his shirt, he opened his mouth to say something again but the sound of Kadar whistling cut him off. He looked up quickly to see who his brother was cat-calling at, his mouth dropped open, his eyes widened, and his heart skipped a beat. 

Walking down the stairs was Altair in the most outrageous get-up Malik had ever seen. It wasn’t a hideous outfit or anything like that but, it was just so over the top that he had no idea how to even feel about it, he suddenly felt so under dressed he might as well have been wearing a burlap sack. 

Altair was wearing a white dress shirt the cuffs rolled up just above his wrists, he had a grey tie on with black spiral stripes going across it. There were two vests a buttoned up grey one under a black one, a small chain from one button to the next holding it loosely in place around his figure. He had on a brown belt and black levi’s, the jeans hugging his taut muscles and complementing his figure very nicely.

"You’ve got to be shitting me," Malik said under his breath watching Altair walk to the car, "he’s fucking- we’re going to a movie and he’s dressed as though he’s going to a fucking photo shoot!"

"I told you it was a date, now I bet you feel foolish in your stained up mechanics get-up," Kadar laughed, shaking his head at his brother, "hey Altair looking good, hope you don’t mind me, I haven’t done laundry in weeks so I just wore my work uniform on our first date."

"Shu- it’s not a date," Malik shot back at his brother glaring at him through the rear-view mirror, "and don’t say anything about it when he gets in the car."

"Of course not," Kadar rolled his eyes playfully, he looked back at Altair licking his lips, "I hope he doesn’t mind the smell of car engine."

Malik groaned leaning back in his seat, he ran his hand through his hair feeling his heart pound in his chest. Before he even had time to collect himself Altair was getting into the car, the smell of his cologne filling the car instantly, holy shit it was overwhelming. He looked over at Altair, the man smiled brightly at him buckling himself up he looked back at Kadar for a moment then to Malik.

"Is this your brother?"

Malik looked at Kadar for a moment as well as if he himself was confused by the other boys presence, he then nodded, “uh, yeah! Altair, this is Altair, Kadar, Altair.”

"What?" Kadar snorted from the backseat.

"Wait," Malik shook his his head, his cheeks burning with embarrassment "Altair this is Kadar, my brother."

"Hi," Altair leaned over offering his hand and the younger boy took it, shaking it sweetly, "it’s nice to meet you Altair."

Kadar laughed looking at Malik with a devious smile, “and you as well Altair.”

Malik stared between the two, clearly not amused by their teasing, “okay, I have to take him home, I hope that’s okay?”

"Yeah," Altair shifted getting comfortable in his seat, he leaned back looking at Malik for a moment before he turned his head to look out his window. 

The ride home was quiet, the only sounds coming from inside the car was Kadar’s heavy breathing due to his stuffy nose and the stupid eight-bit song coming from the game he was playing. He was happy to finally drop Kadar off though, maybe Altair was being quiet because he didn’t really know the younger man because usually Altair was a talker as well. They both said goodbye to his brother, watching him walk up the steps to the house Malik made sure to wait and see if the boy got inside okay.

When Kadar was inside the house Malik turned to Altair, tapping the steering wheel nervously, “I should go change, I feel- well, I’m severely under dressed,” Malik looked at Altair’s clothes again, swallowing thickly. 

"No! You look fine, plus the movie is about to start in ten minutes you don’t have time," Altair looked down at his own clothes, "plus this is nothing, I just threw it on because I had nothing else to wear, my clothes are all dirty."

Malik raised a brow at Altair not at all believing that little white lie, but he couldn’t do much about it. He just sighed and nodded, putting the car into drive, quickly he grabbed the steering wheel trying to ignore the weird feeling he had in his gut. 

The ride was again mostly quiet, Altair asked a few basic questions mostly about Kadar which was both annoying and disappointing all at once. But he didn’t seem to be trying to make an effort to talk to Altair either so he didn’t complain. It’s not that he didn’t want to talk to Altair, he just felt silly and under dressed for the occasion if he knew Altair was going to get dressed up like he was going to a Hollywood movie premiere he would have at least gone home and showered.

But finally they were at the theater and Malik was happy to know that they’d be in a dark room soon and no one would have to look at his messy clothes. But getting to said dark room was so much easier said than done, they had to wait in this unnecessarily long line. It was actually shocking to Malik how many people were here in the first place, yeah it was a Friday night, but come on. He was uncomfortable, people kept looking at them (mostly Altair because of his ridiculous get-up), they’d glance at Altair with a smile then look at Malik as if he was the scum of the earth.

Which right now was a pretty accurate description of what he felt like. 

"I thought people just pirated movies these days."

Malik turned his head looking at the side of Altair’s head for a moment, unsure if it was even him that spoke, “huh?”

Altair smiled shrugging his shoulders, “I know I do, this is the first time I’ve been to a movie theater since, well since Ezio dragged me along to play wing-man to some chick and her friend.”

"That’s illegal," Malik said intelligently.

Altair’s eyes grew wide for a moment before he laughed and nodded, “yeah, I’ll stop right away officer.”

Malik only smirked shaking his head, he took a step forward finally it was his turn to buy their movie tickets, why the hell the line took this long was beyond him. Who got up here and started asking questions? Tell them the movie you want to watch and get your ass moving. 

"Can I get two," Malik was reaching in his back pocket for his wallet, but when he stuck his fingers inside his back pocket he felt nothing but lint. He stood up straight feeling his pocket he turned looking at Altair, "I- shit," Malik knew that if his wallet wasn’t in the pocket on his right side he didn’t have it, for obvious reasons. He shook his head checking both front pockets quickly, "fuck, I left my wallet in the car, let me go get it."

"I can pay Malik it’s fine," Altair interjected quickly reaching for his back pocket.

Malik shook his head grabbing his friends wrist, “no, I invited you on this thing, now I’m going to pay, wait here.”

Malik didn’t wait for Altair to respond he quickly jogged back to the car (now he was upset he didn’t try parking closer), he fumbled with his keys and dropped them, picking them up quickly he unlocked his car. He searched everywhere he’d normally put his wallet, and he couldn’t find it anywhere. Then he remembered, slumping down into the front seat he dropped his head onto the steering wheel, he had left it in his locker back at the shop.

"Is everything okay?"

Malik didn’t budge when he heard Altair instead he slunk down farther into the seat and lifted his hand grabbing the bottom of the steering wheel, “I forgot my wallet at work.”

Altair only laughed leaning over of put a hand on Malik’s shoulder, “that’s alright, I bought the tickets, we’re going to be late to our movie if we don’t hurry.”

"You bought them?" Malik lifted his head looking up at the younger man, frowning when he seen the ticket stubs in Altair’s hand, "I’m so sorry, I can run to the shop-."

"No!" Altair shook his head and squeezed Malik’s shoulder, "come on let’s go get some popcorn and get a seat, it’s okay you can pay next time."

Malik just sighed, he was glad to know Altair even wanted there to be a next time with the way the date was going. He got out of the car, closing the door behind him and locking it, he motioned for Altair to go ahead before he followed close behind. 

As for the rest of the date, well it only got worse. Malik spilled the popcorn all over the hallway before they even got into the theater and then almost tripped over the popcorn bucket. Altair assured him it was okay, and he’d go get another bucket but Malik insisted he’d go. So, Altair went and found seats with their drinks and Malik had to take a half-empty broken bucket of popcorn back to the concession stand. When he got back to his seat he tripped over someones foot and dropped the popcorn again, Altair had to get up and drag him over forcing him to just sit down and enjoy himself. Of course the bad luck did not end there, oh no. Malik spilled his drink into his lap and accidentally scuffed up Altair’s nice shoes on a very intense part of the movie when he had jumped. And to make everything worse, they were sitting right behind a couple making out, they were loud and making a lot of noise and Malik wasn’t sure how two people could have so much saliva in their mouths. It was disgusting to say the least. 

But, one good thing did come from all of this, while Malik was leaning back in his chair, hand on the arm rest and his body tense from being so upset with himself. He felt something warm rest on top of his hand, at first he was afraid to look because with the way this date was going hell, he didn’t know what it was. He just knew what he wanted and hoped it to be.

He swallowed thickly and looked down at Altair’s hand resting on top of his own, his fingers brushing the top of dry knuckles making his hand burn. Malik couldn’t help but smile, he turned his attention back to the movie though, he didn’t want Altair to see him looking and maybe take his hand away. 

Finally the movie was over, they waited awhile before getting up letting the movie theater clear out to avoid traffic. They walked side-by-side to the car, Altair asking casual questions like if Malik liked the movie and if he was hungry since they didn’t eat any popcorn. Malik fully intended to take Altair out to dinner after the movie, but since he didn’t have his wallet and Altair was paying for everything, well that plan quickly changed.

Malik unlocked Altair’s door, opening it for him and waiting on him was the least he could do.

"Oh," Altair put a hand on his chest with an animated smile, "you are such a gentleman Malik."

"Shut up," Malik shook his head refusing to look at Altair, "get in."

Altair got inside and Malik shut the door, quickly walking around the car he got in and started it, letting it warm up he leaned back in his seat.

"Well?" 

Malik turned looking at Altair, raising a brow, “well, what?”

"You never told me if you were hungry or not." Altair smiled pulling his seat belt on, clicking it in place he tugged on it to make sure it was secure.

"I’m not," Malik lied looking down at the black dirt stuck underneath his fingernails to distract himself from looking over at Altair.

"Oh," Altair sounded disappointed but nodded anyway with a smile, "okay well, can I ask you something?"

Malik looked at Altair unsure if the ‘something’ he was going to ask was a bad or good thing, he couldn’t tell by the tone of Altair’s voice. He swallowed and hesitantly nodded, “yeah, of course.”

"Okay," Altair shifted so he could face Malik in his seat, he smiled leaning over just a bit, his hand resting on the back of the seat his other hand curled into a tight fist pressed against his knee. He stared at Malik for a long while, his gold eyes scanning every inch of Malik’s face, "you, well, I mean it seems like you’ve just been upset this entire time from like the moment I got into your car. Did you not want to go out with me tonight?"

Malik just stared at Altair for a moment, his mouth opening but nothing came out, he snorted in defense waving at Altair, “no, no, I did- I do! I just, I mean I thought this was a casual thing and you got all dressed up, I’m here in a dirty white polo, black grease stains all over and faded black dickies,” Malik dropped his hand into his lap, “and I forgot my wallet and just everything seemed to be going wrong, it’s not you, I promise.”

Altair couldn’t help but laugh, his body relaxing even more into the seat he dropped his head back on the head rest, “good, okay, I thought maybe you weren’t having a good time because you didn’t want to be here,” Altair’s smile never faded, his tongue darting out across dry lips, “and I happen to think you look very handsome tonight.”

"Yeah, thanks," Malik rolled his eyes, "I look like the dirt on the bottom of my shoe compared to you."

"You could never," Altair shook his head, "see that’s the problem here Malik, I have to try and look good, you, look at you, you’re in your work clothes and you still look good, I have to put on ten different colognes to mask the smell of coffee off myself."

Malik laughed shaking his head, “I like the smell of coffee.”

"Oh that’s a relief coming from someone who doesn’t like the taste."

"Coffee is bitter and disgusting and the fru-fru iced shit is horrid," Malik mad a face, sticking his tongue out, "gross if it wasn’t for teenagers and middle-aged single mothers trying to find love you’d be out of business."

"Middle-aged singe mothers? What?" Altair laughed, covering his mouth he shook his head, "that’s a new one, where did you get those statics from?"

"Don’t worry about it," Malik looked at the steering wheel, putting his hand on the bottom he drummed his index finger on it, "I only came in Starbucks once to try it out and some very arrogant asshole took my order got it wrong, and I’ve been going back ever since."

Altair dropped his hand back in his lap, biting his bottom lip before he spoke, “I’m glad you keep coming back, gives me something to look forward to.”

"See this is why you’re arrogant, how do you know I wasn’t talking about someone else?" Malik teased the younger man.

Altair only laughed shaking his head he leaned over playfully pushing Malik’s shoulder, “shut up, like you were talking about someone else, you’re obsessed with me, it needs to stop Malik, I can’t be having stalkers visit me at work now.”

"Yeah, yeah," Malik rolled his eyes, "whatever helps you sleep better at night Altair."

Malik drove Altair home, not before going through and getting some cheap burgers for Altair since he insisted that if he didn’t eat soon he was going to die. They sat and ate the burgers in front of Altair’s apartment. Malik listened to some stories of Ezio using his charm to get people to buy him ridiculous things; he also told a few stories about how some guy named Charles always came in when Connor was working put in his order but never actual came back for his coffee. When they finished eating Malik got out of the car to walk Altair up to his apartment, they said goodnight before Altair went inside and Malik walked back to his car and drove home pleased with how the date ended, even without a kiss. 

"Well!?" Malik wasn’t even in the damn house yet, Kadar spoke to him through the kitchen window, "how was your- oooooh, not-date?"

Malik rolled his eyes, opening the door he stepped inside, wrestlig with the key before tugging it out, “it went horrible actually, I left my wallet at work, we missed a good ten minutes of the movie, there were two people making out loudly in front of us, what else happened,” Malik kicked the door shut, putting his hand on his hip while he thought, “I spilled two buckets of popcorn, my drink, and I stepped on Altiar’s expensive shoes, and we ended up eating McDonald’s in front of his apartment.”

"Oh my god," Kadar shook his head with an amused look on his face, "and all while looking like you’d just crawled out of a mine shaft."

Malik frowned at Kadar’s words, he knew his brother meant no harm but he couldn’t help but feel like Altair was only pretending that he enjoyed himself, “the end of the date was okay, but I don’t think he’s going to call me ever again, it was a pretty horrible date.”

***

"Should I call him?" Altair leaned against the counter, staring down at his phone nervously, "I shouldn’t that’d be weird, we just went out last night he’ll think I’m desperate."

"Altair, I kind of need your help," Connor said, wrestling with the blender while trying to motion to the grumpy old man waiting in line that he’d be right with him. 

"You’re right Connor," Altair stood up straight, "I should go call, right now."

Connor’s mouth dropped open and before he could protest Altair disappeared into the back room, “oh- no, okay thanks Altair, hold on sir I’ll be right with you.” He finally got the blender going, wiping his hands off on his green aparon he rushed to the cash register and smiled apologetically “sorry sir, we’re kind of short on staff as you can see.”

"I don’t want your sob stories boy, just give me a black coffee," the man was already handing his money to Connor.

"Okay," Connor said exhausted, he rang up the mans order and took the money, "hold on ma’am," Connor said while rushing to the blender that was still going.

"Jeeeeez, you look busy sir."

Connor never thought he’d ever be this happy to hear Ezio but, for once he was glad the man showed up to work. He turned to look at him motioning to the register, “can you handle that?”

"Where is Altair? Isn’t he working today?" Ezio looked around curiously, putting his hat on as he walked around the counter to the register, "it’s not like him to not be out here helping you and you know, yelling at me for being late."

"He’s calling that- what’s his name? That guy that he always gets his order wrong," Connor shrugged pouring the iced coffee into a cup.

"Yeah, you mean the guy with one arm?"

“Ezio,” Connor shot the man a disappointing look, almost spilling the drink he was pouring.

"He’s got one arm, you could have easily said that and I would have known exactly who you were talking about," Ezio shrugged. 

“Ezio.”

Ezio turned spotting Altair, finally, the same angry look on his face and his hands on his hips, “there he is, how was your date?”

"Why are you late?" Altair ignored his question.

"Jeez! Come on Altair not even a good date can bring a smile to your face?" Ezio leaned against the cash register ignoring the woman staring at him in completely disbelief.

"You want to see a smile on my face Ezio? Get here when your shift starts, I’m smiling when your shift starts," Altair pointed at the woman, "now get to work."

"Well?" Connor smiled while handing the black coffee to the old man, trying to avoid his hateful glare. 

"I don’t know," Altair shrugged trying not to show the disappointment on his face, "he didn’t pick up, he’s probably working or his brother has his phone and he’s in school, I don’t know."

"Altair, look."

Altair looked up and over at Ezio, still annoyed that he was late he found it difficult to even listen to the younger mans voice without getting irritated. But, when he looked in the direction that Ezio had nodded towards he seen Malik standing in line; he smiled at Altair and waved nervously. 

A smile came across Altair’s face looking at Malik, he felt his cheeks get hot but with an encouraging nudge from Connor he waved back, “I’ll take over the register now Ezio.”


End file.
